12 May 1743 Coronation of Maria Theresa

The ceremony of the coronation of Maria Theresa as Queen of Bohemia was magnificent. It took place on May 12, 1743. It was an act of reconciliation, because the Czechs did not like the monarch very much because of the betrayal of the nobility.

With the Peace of Wroclaw in 1742, Maria Theresa freed her hands to defend her heritage on the Western Front. While Frederick II. Maria Theresia was victorious in Silesia, the Bavarian Elector Charles Albert, supported by French and Saxon troops, invaded Bohemia and in November 1741 seized Prague, where most of the Czech Estates recognised him as King of Bohemia.

"His coronation, however, did not take place. The Czech crown jewels were in fact stored in Vienna, and without them the act of coronation could not take place. On the part of that part of the Bohemian nobility and bourgeoisie which subsequently paid tribute to Karl Albrecht as theiras their new king, this was a betrayal of the Austrian monarch, since it also called into question the legitimacy of her rule. Although it was later interpreted as a temporary action in the situation, Maria Theresa could not make the Czech Estates forget their betrayal for long," says Vladimír Liška in his book Maria Theresa: Mysteries and Mysteries.

Although Karl Albrecht left the city in early 1742 to be elected emperor in Frankfurt, he left a military garrison in Prague. At this time the situation began to turn in Maria Theresa's favour. Her troops undertook a successful campaign into Bavaria in 1742 and in 1743 they succeeded in pushing the Franco-Bavarian army out of Prague and gradually in the rest of Bohemia. The coronation of Maria Theresa took place in Prague in May.

It was a lavish and ostentatious ceremony of appeasement. The monarch arrived in Prague on 29 April, accompanied by her husband František Štěpán Lotrinský. This solemn moment was accompanied by the firing of cannons from the Vyšehrad Citadel, the whirling of cauldrons and the ringing of bells. "Vivat Maria Theresia" was heard in the streets. The couple symbolically received the keys to Prague Castle, where they also stayed.

"Maria Theresa was crowned in St. Vitus Cathedral as Queen of Bohemia, which confirmed the legitimacy of her rule over the Czech kingdom," Liška writes.

This success was later crowned by the election of Franz Stephan of Lorraine as Roman Emperor in September 1745, after the death of Charles Albert. "The War of the Austrian Succession with France continued until 1748, but it did not touch the Czech lands. Moreover, the Habsburg monarchy gained valuable allies in Holland and England, and with the Peace of Aachen in 1748, although it lost part of Milan, it regained the Austrian Netherlands. Maria Theresa thus succeeded in defending almost the entire Austrian heritage, since the only really significant loss was the advanced Silesia, ceded to the Prussian king," write Jaroslav Pánek and Oldřich Tůma in their book History of the Czech Lands.

Jaroslav Pánek and Oldřich Tůma: The History of the Czech Lands, Vladimír Liška: Maria Theresa - Mysteries and Mysteries, www.hrad.cz